Who is a Ship Superintendent?

A ship superintendent is a person who is in charge of ensuring whether the necessary repair works on a ship are being executed properly, especially during the dry dock of the ship. A ship superintendent’s role and scope, when it comes to the shipping industry, is huge and requires complete alertness and vigilance because of the great responsibilities bestowed upon him.

In simple terms, a ship superintendent can also be referred to as a supervisor or an overseer. He is the one who has the documents that specify the necessary repairing and conditioning require for a ship and he is the one who has to reassure that the repairing and reconstruction of the ship is being carried out properly in the allocated shipyard or dry dock.

As mentioned above, in terms of marine jobs, the job of a ship superintendent is not an easy one. He is the one who will be blamed primarily in case there is any problem with the ship when a voyage is about to be undertaken or if the ship is in mid-sea and encounters any problem. As an overseer, a ship superintendent has to be constantly in touch with the ship repair company for updates and progress on the repairing work. This continuous diligence ensures that the ship repair company does not take any extra time and thereby any extra costs for the purpose of repairing.

A ship superintendent is generally assigned to a particular shipyard where he is provided with the paperwork of the ship that is in need of immediate attention. After getting all details about the repairs required by the ship and the paperwork, the ship superintendent, also known as ‘ship sup’, takes care of all the proceedings right from the time the ship comes to the shipyard, until the time all documents verifying that the maintenance of the ship has been carried out effectively are handed down to the concerned authorities.

However, it has to be noted that the profession of a ship superintendent is not something that one can easily apply to. There are specific institutions that provide superintendent training to become good and successful ship superintendents.

These institutions provide superintendent training to aspiring candidates on various subjects like how to respond in emergency situations, document verification and processing, how to survey the extent of damage to a ship, cost efficiency and maintaining effective budgeting and many other relevant points.

These points are important when it comes to superintendent training because only when such training is provided can a candidate be proficient in the shipping industry and prove to be an asset to the ship owner or shipping concern.

Experience is also an important factor when it comes to ship superintendents. More the experience a professional has, the better it will be when the supervising duty is taken into account. An experienced person will have a better practical idea about the duty that the profession involves than an inexperienced person. This point is therefore considered as very relevant while hiring ship superintendents.

There is no denying that the profession of ship superintendent is unique and offers lot of opportunities. As out-of-the-box professions go, there is no doubt that being a ship superintendent is one of the most prominent choices of all the other marine jobs present in the market today.